The goal of this article is to provide a historical context of how JavaScript tools have evolved to what they are today in 2017. ... We went from plain HTML a

The goal of this article is to provide a historical context of how JavaScript tools have evolved to what they are today in 2017. ... We went from plain HTML and JS to using a package manager to automatically download 3rd party packages, a module bundler to create a single script file, a transpiler to use future JavaScript features, and a task runner to automate different parts of the build process. Definitely a lot of moving pieces here, especially for beginners. Modern JavaScript can definitely be frustrating to work with as it continues to change and evolve at a rapid pace. But even though it may seem at times like re-inventing the wheel,...